Hey Byron - next time you run into anyone questioning closing down a highway for 2 hours for a parade, or what about EMS, etc...tell them about what happens down here every Mardi Gras. There are some 60 parades in the New Orleans area in a 10-day span during the Carnival season - and as one gets closer to "Fat Tuesday", double and triple-headers become commonplace. There are at least 15 parades that use the uptown route in New Orleans alone - if you live anywhere close to St Charles Avenue, from Napoleon Ave on through downtown, you are basically boxed in for hours. At a minimum, there are 14 floats per parade - most have much more. Somehow, it all happens, year after year.

I guess it's part of our culture down here - we parade at the drop of a hat.